Quentin Tarantino axes 'Hateful Eight' after leak

Quentin Tarantino has put 'Hateful Eight' on hold after the script leaked.

The Academy-Award winning director has expressed his fury in a foul mouthed rant after learning an unauthorised copy of the script was made public and insists he only lent it to a small group of actors.

Tarantino fumed to Deadline.com: ''I'm very, very depressed, I finished a script, a first draft, and I didn't mean to shoot it until next winter, a year from now. I gave it to six people, and apparently it's gotten out today.''

Fans who were hoping to see another Western from the 50-year-old filmmaker following the success of 'Django Unchained' last year, will also be left disappointed as the director will now publish the story as a book and move onto other projects.

Tarantino added: ''I don't know how these f***ing agents work, but I'm not making this next. I'm going to publish it, and that's it for now. I give it out to six people, and if I can't trust them to that degree, then I have no desire to make it. I'll publish it. I'm done. I'll move on to the next thing. I've got 10 more where that came from.''

He is keen to find out who leaked the scripts and admits he has possible suspects lined up including 'Reservoir Dogs' star Michael Madsen and 'Django Unchained' producer Reginald Hudlin, who he claims let his agent read the script.

Tarantino explained: ''That's a betrayal, but not crippling because the agent didn't end up with the script. There is an ugly maliciousness to the rest of it. I gave it to three actors: Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Tim Roth. The one I know didn't do this is Tim Roth. One of the others let their agent read it, and that agent has now passed it on to everyone in Hollywood.''